Population Ecology of Whitefly, Bemisia tabaci, (Homoptera: Aleyrodidae) on Brinjal

Abstract

Whitefly, Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius), a common insect feeding on plants, belongs to the family Aleyrodidae of the orderHomoptera. The quantity of food source especially brinjal, is one of the major factors that has attracted whitefly in thearea. In fact, the flight ability of whitefly enables them to search for food quickly. Thus could encourage whitefly toreproduce in great numbers and subsequently cause severe infestation in the fields. Many farmers are not interested togrow brinjal after they have gone through some bad experience due to some whitefly infestations, which have resulted ina total crop loss of brinjal fruits. At present, information on the population dynamics of whiteflies locally on brinjal is stilllacking. Henceforth, these studies are indeed appropriate to generate a comprehensive understanding on the insectpopulation, which could support an effective pest management programme and crop improvement strategy. The studywas conducted at the Field Laboratory of the Faculty of Applied Science, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Shah Alam. Thestudy on the population of whitefly larvae on brinjal plants covered all the plant strata except for the upper stratum. Thepopulations of whitefly were aggregated (Taylor’s Power Law Calculate) in first and second cropping of brinjal plants. Itmay be concluded that the total number of whitefly larvae were found to be most abundant in the middle stratum of thebrinjal plants.